This feels entirely doable and also leaves a lot of extra wiggle room for me to read a number of other books, too, as I have time and am inspired. I’ve tried book lists and book plans for the year in the past, but I find I glean so much more from books when I choose them based upon whatever mood I’m in or whatever subject I’m currently researching or area I want to work on in my life.

Starting Fresh With My Book List

Since we’re starting fresh this week, I’m also going to start fresh with my book list. My plan going forward in 2015 is to post a recap every Wednesday of what I’ve read the following week and what I’m planning to read the coming week.

That way, you can get a peek into what I’m reading (and hopefully get some book ideas to add to your library list!) and I can keep a running total of the books I’ve read this year and my thoughts on them.

Books Read This Week

We’re two days into January and I’ve finished two books so far. That’s a pretty good pace, eh? 🙂 I don’t think I’ll be able to keep reading at the pace of one book per day, but who knows?

Here’s what I read:

The Miracle Morning — So this book came highly recommended, but personally, I felt it was full of a bit of hype. It did inspire me to make the most of my mornings and do a better job of getting back to my discipline of early morning rising, but I felt like the author did a whole lot of self-promotion in the book (constantly plugging his site, his other book, his coaching, his speaking, etc.) that it felt too sales-pitchy and hyped to me. But I’m also quite the cynic. 😉

52 Ways to Wow Your Husband — One of the things that I committed to do this year was to read at least one book on marriage every month, so I figured I’d go ahead and get started on that goal. 🙂 This book had a lot of great ideas in it, a lot of stuff that just felt like fluff and filler material, and a number of ideas that wouldn’t work at all for our marriage. However, I read part of it when we were on a road trip and it was fun to ask Jesse some of the questions and it sparked some good conversation between us.

The Anxiety Cure — As someone who struggles with anxiety during different seasons of life, I’m on a mission to learn more about it and what I can do to help prevent or minimize it. I read Sleep: It Does a Family Good by Archibald Hart two years ago and learned so much from it that I picked up this title to check it out, too.

What Alice Forgot — This one keeps getting recommended to me, so I finally decided I’d see if it lived up to the recommendations. 🙂

Glimpses of Grace — So many people have told me I must read this book. I’m about a 1/3 of the way through it and am finding it thought-provoking it.

The One Thing — I keep seeing this one mentioned over and over again, so I thought it’d be a great read to start the year out with.

Long Walk to Freedom & Kaffir Boy — I’m reading these because, well, I can’t tell you just yet. But I will say that I have a secret I’ve been keeping for quite some time and I get to tell you all about it on Monday. Feel free to leave your guesses in the comments. 😉

Our New Morning Time Basket

I read Teaching From Rest this week and was so inspired to start doing Morning Time with my kids each morning (basically, a time to gather and read together and study some of those things you always want to study in homeschooling but don’t always get around to).

My plan is for us to pray, sing a hymn, work on Scripture memory, read a devotional, have the kids practice handwriting skills while I read a short piece from The Children’s Homer or a history book, and then have the kids practice sketching pictures from nature while I read our current read aloud book.

That’s my plan — we’ll see how it goes! I allotted an hour and 15 minutes for this and I think that should be more than ample time. I’m excited and the kids are, too!

What did you read this week? Did you set reading goals for 2015? Why or why not?

99 Comments

I just finished reading Under the Dome by Stephen King. It literally took me over 6 months. I kept picking it up and putting it back down…it was a real monster of a book. I decided that I would probably actually finish it if I had it available on my phone through the kindle app.

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like they just ended a mini relationship whenever you finish a good book…especially a long one?

I just wrote a post on how to get your kindle books for free. I’m all about saving money!

If you’re reading South Africa books, I would recommend “Cry, the Beloved Country” (over “Kaffir Boy” and others). One of my all-time favourites. And the movie (after the book, of course), is also excellent.

Currently reading “Still Life with Bread Crumbs” and love it. I’m hoping to read 15 books this year and I have another 4 I’ll do via audiobook I think. I have two kids under two, so reading time is hard to find, but getting easier. Love the morning time idea. Wonder if I can implement something similar for my littler ones.

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